1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a reverser for a watercraft which allows the watercraft to go in reverse, and more particularly to a locking mechanism for locking a deflector functioned as the reverser at a predetermined position.
2. Description of the Related Art
A watercraft which is propelled by a water jet pump, for example, a personal watercraft (which is also referred to as a "PWC") has a structure to suck water (including sea water) through a water intake hole provided on a bottom of a hull, to pressurize the water by the water jet pump and to eject the water rearward from the hull through an outlet port of the water jet pump, thereby moving the PWC forward.
When going rearwardly, a deflector liftably (movably) is provided behind the steering nozzle and positioned in a portion behind the steering nozzle (brought down), thereby changing the direction of a water flow ejected rearward from the steering nozzle into a forward direction. Thus, the body of the watercraft can go in reverse.
An up-down movement of the deflector is performed by operating a deflector operation lever provided closely to a steering handle through an operation wire which connects the deflector operation lever and deflector.
The deflector has a locking mechanism provided between the deflector and the body side in such a manner that the deflector is fixed into an upper retracted position when going forward and is fixed into a position behind the steering nozzle when going astern.
Conventionally, the locking mechanism has been constituted to be operated through an operation wire by operating a lock operation lever provided near the deflector operation lever.
More specifically, the up-down movement of the deflector and the operation of the locking mechanism are performed by operating separate operation levers using separate operation wires. Accordingly, when a rider wants to go astern it is necessary to move the deflector from the retracted position down to a position behind the steering nozzle, for example, it is necessary to first operate the lock operation lever to perform unlocking, then operate the deflector operation lever to bring the deflector down to a predetermined position and thereafter operate the lock operation lever again to perform locking. When the forward movement is desired after going astern, the same two operations as described above are required.
Moreover, respective operation levers should be provided on a structural basis. In addition, through holes for operation wire should be formed on the body and installation spaces of the wires should be provided. Thus, the operation wires should be provided to reach a stern portion, respectively. Correspondingly, the number of parts is increased and an assembly man-hour is also increased. Thus, manufacturing cost is increased.